Thursday, July 28, 2005

Convicted IRA terrorist released, "historic announcement" expected

I wonder what the relatives of those 9 victims of Kelly's terrorist activity think about Blair's stance on the so called "international war on terror wherever it rears its ugly head" following the convicted terrorist's release from prison. Also, it's rather a contradiction that while Blair & Co want to bring in all sorts of new laws on terror, they're releasing convicted terrorists. Perhaps any Blairite lackeys could defend these confusing signals to terrorists? From the Guardian:

Mr Kelly, who was once sentenced to life imprisonment for killing nine civilians in a fish shop bomb in Belfast in 1993, had his early release licence which was issued under the Good Friday Agreement revoked last month by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain for involvement in terrorist activity.
However, in a move which incensed unionists and fuelled speculation that the choreography to an IRA statement had begun, Mr Kelly was freed from Maghaberry Prison pending the outcome of an appeal to the Sentence Review Commission.
The Northern Ireland Office explained: "We can confirm Sean Kelly was granted temporary release by the Secretary of State on the expectation of the forthcoming IRA statement."

5 Comments:

The last PM to deal appropriately with the IRA was THatcher. Since her time it's been constant appeasement with yesterday's release of that killer being but the latest example.The IRA should be treated like AQ and all other terrorist trash.

Terrorism is a political crime and until its core motivating issues are dealt with, it will continue. This is hardly controversial and the first time I have seen it referred to in print is in Tacitus's The Agricola and The Germania written nearly 2000 years ago.

# 1971: Three British soldiers are killed in a bomb attack in Belfast.

# 1971: Catholic mother of ten, Jean McConville, is executed by the Provisional IRA for cushioning the head of a dying British soldier, although it is also claimed that she was informing the British Army of PIRA activities. The PIRA would deny any involvement in the killing until the 1990s, when it would acknowledge its action.

# 21 July 1972: On 'Bloody Friday' 22 bombs kill 9 and seriously injure 130. 30 years later the PIRA would officially apologise for this set of attacks.

# 1974: The Guildford pub bombing kills 19 and injures 182. The motive for the bombing was apparently that the pub attacked was frequented by soldiers. Four people, dubbed the 'Guildford Four', would be convicted for the bombing and imprisoned for life. The Guidford Four would claim police tortured them into confessing and 15 years later Lord Lane of the Court of Appeal would overturn their convictions noting "the investigating officers must have lied".

# 1974: In the Birmingham Pub Bombings bombs in two pubs kill 19. The Birmingham Six' would be tried for this and convicted. Many years later, after new evidence of police fabrication and suppression of evidence, their convictions would be quashed. Appeals by the Birmingham Six that the real IRA bombers had admitted responsibility for the bombings were ignored.

# 1975: The Balcombe Street Siege.

# 1976: A PIRA bomb kills the newly appointed British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, resulting in the declaration of a State of Emergency in the Republic. The PIRA also threatens to kidnap or kill Irish cabinet ministers and the President of Ireland.

# 1979: A PIRA bomb kills Earl Mountbatten of Burma, members of his family and a local child off the Irish coast. On the same day the PIRA kill 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, near Newry, County Down; in an attack described by the British government as "a classic guerilla attack", they first plant one bomb, which kills 6, and then begin firing with sniper rifles at soldiers sheltered near a nearby gate where a second bomb explodes, killing 12 others. During an Irish visit Pope John Paul II calls for the PIRA campaign of violence to come to an end.

# 1981: The PIRA kill Ulster Unionist Party Belfast MP Rev Robert Bradford along with the caretaker of a community centre. Irish Taoiseach Dr. Garret FitzGerald and former taoiseach Charles Haughey condemn the killings in Dáil Éireann. SDLP party leader John Hume accuses the Provisionals of waging a campaign of "sectarian genocide".

# 10 October 1981: a bomb blast on Ebury Bridge Road in London kills 2 people and injures 39.

# 26 October 1981: a bomb explodes at a Wimpy Bar in Oxford Street London killing one person.

# 20 July 1982: In Hyde Park, a bomb bombs kills two members of the Household Cavalry performing ceremonial duties in the park. Seven of their horses are also killed. On the same day another device kills seven bandsmen the Royal Green Jackets as it explodes underneath the bandstand in Regents Park as they played music to 120 spectators.

# 1983: A Harrods department store bomb planted by the PIRA during Christmas shopping season kills six (three police) and wounds 90.

# 1984: In the Brighton hotel bombing a bomb in the Grand Hotel kills five in a failed attempt to assassinate members of the British cabinet, including Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

# 1987: In the Enniskillen 'Massacre' the PIRA bombing of a Remembrance Day parade kills eleven civilians and injures sixty-three. Among the dead is nurse Marie Wilson, whose father, Gordon Wilson, would go on to become a leading campaigner for an end to violence in Northern Ireland. The PIRA would later claim that their target was a colour guard of British soldiers. On Remembrance Day 1997 the leader of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, formally apologised for the bombing.

# 1989: Ten Royal Marine bandsmen are killed and 22 injured in the bombing of their base in Deal in Kent.

# 1990: Car bombings in Northern Ireland kill seven and wound 37.

# 30 July 1990 Ian Gow MP is killed when a device explodes under his car as he is leaving his home.

# 1990: A British Army Artillery officer is killed by the PIRA in Dortmund in the then West Germany.

# 18 February 1991: A bomb explodes at Victoria Station. One man killed and 38 people injured.

# 1991: Mortar attack on members of the British cabinet and the Prime Minister, John Major at the height of a huge security clampdown amid the Gulf War is launched by PIRA.

# 1991: Two PIRA members are killed in St. Albans when their own bomb detonates prematurely.

# 28 February 1992: A bomb explodes at London Bridge railway station injuring 29 people.

# 10 April 1992: A large bomb explodes in St Mary Axe in the City of London killing three people and injuring 91. Many buildings are heavily damaged and the Baltic Exchange is completely destroyed.

# 12 October 1992: A device explodes in the gents' toilet of the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden killing one person and injuring four others.

# 1992: Eight Protestant builders are killed by a PIRA bomb on their way to work at an army base near Omagh.

# 1993: A PIRA bomb in Warrington kills two children.

# 1993: The PIRA detonates a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, which kills two and causes around £350m of damage, including the near destruction of St. Ethelburga's Bishopsgate.

# 1993: A bomb at a fish and chip shop underneath a UDA office on the Protestant Shankill Road in Belfast detonates prematurely, killing ten, including the bomber and two children.

# 18 February 1996 an improvised high explosive device detonates prematurely on a bus, killing the PIRA operative transporting the device and injuring eight others.

# 1996: The PIRA ends its 1994 cease-fire, killing two in a bomb at the Canary Wharf towers in London.

So, Thatcher was PM from 1979 to the end of 1990. Tracing the list of events fom 1971 on, we see things really pick up after she became PM. Judging from the historical record, her 'approriate' handling of the IRA led of a substantial increase in terrorist attacks.